Call me a masochist, but I love 1989's "Best of the Best." I'll watch it every time it's on cable -- which seems like every Friday night about 2:30 a.m.

What's great about it? Surely not the disturbingly simple plot. Or the odd casting of James Earl Jones as a Tae Kwon Do coach for the U.S. national team. Not even the ballooning figure of the late Christopher Penn as cowboy hat-wearing board-crusher.

It's Eric Roberts. It was the last great role for an actor who has managed to snatch B-movie status from mouth of a once-promising film career.

Roberts turns 52 years old today. How will he celebrate? Depends on what dinner theater he's performing in tonight. Here's a birthday list for you, Eric.

TOP 5 ROLES OF ERIC ROBERTS IN THE 80s:

5. BEST OF THE BEST (1989): "Pop it, Pop it Tommy, POP IT!"

4. THE COCA-COLA KID (1985): "Is that the Australian sound? I mean, do we have the Australian sound here?"

3. RUNAWAY TRAIN (1985): "Hey Manny, You don't treat me like your punk, ok?"

2. STAR 80 (1983): "Well, you can take your magazine, you mansion and your movies and shove'em ALL up your a-- now."

1. THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE (1984): "Horses ain't like people, man, they can't make themselves better than they're born."

[AP photo]